This year's North Coast Section softball semifinals at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night, June 2, at James Logan High School will feature two similar Mission Valley Athletic League teams with two completely different roads to the semifinal round.

Led by long-time coach Terri Johnson, the Logan Colts, seeded seventh in the NCS DI tourney, have just about breezed through the season, and in the playoffs, with their only playoff loss this postseason coming against American High in the NCS playoff opener on May 18. Logan has won the following three games since the loss, defeating Washington (MVAL finals), Arroyo (NCS first round) and American (NCS quarters) by a combined score of 14-4, including two shutouts.

Freshman pitcher Raeann Garza, freshman catcher Caley Bonansea and sophomore outfielder Jazmine Reed have led this relatively young Colts team to the NCS semis for the first time since 2008.

Garza sparked the Colts to a 6-4 win over Arroyo on Wednesday, May 26, pitching a complete seven innings, allowing four runs on four hits with a season-high 10 strikeouts. Bonansea has hit .333 on the season, including going 2-3 at the plate against Arroyo with a key RBI single. Reed has continued to shine in her young Logan career, hitting .351 this season with 22 RBIs.

The MVAL champion Colts also enter play with a 23-5 record in the regular season with an undefeated 12-0 record in MVAL play, including a nine-game win streak going into the playoffs. They have also defeated the Cougars twice this year, outscoring them a combined 8-4 in the regular season.

In the other corner, the Cougars of Newark Memorial didn't have it so easy entering the playoffs this season as they finished the year 15-11 with an 8-4 record in league play. The Cougars lost their season finale to Logan, 4-3, and followed that with a 2-0 loss to Washington in the MVAL playoffs.

However, Newark Memorial, as the 14th seed, stormed back once the NCS playoffs started, winning 4-2 at California High and cruising past Berkeley High, 7-1, to reach the semifinal round against the Colts.

Logan and Newark Memorial will also face each other in the NCS playoffs for the first time since 2007. In that showdown, the Colts won, 6-0.